Mulugu: Focus on protecting tigers says warangal and karimnagar circle chief conservator of forests MJ Akbar

Mulugu: The emphasis should be on protecting tigers and their habitat, Warangal and Karimnagar Circle Chief Conservator of Forests MJ Akbar said.

Speaking at a meeting here on Thursday that focused on landscape level coordination on tiger movement, he stressed the need for taking measures to provide a congenial atmosphere for the movement

of tigers.

He told the officials to have sway over the regions where they sense the movement "of tigers.

"The people living in the surroundings should be alerted. Further, they should be told not to initiate any measures that harm the tigers," he said.

Stating that a tiger had come to the forest in Mulugu district after a gap of 10 years, he said that it was due to conservation measures taken by the forest wing. The meeting discussed measures to be taken for the protection of the tigers. They discussed increasing the population of herbivores in the region so as to attract the tigers.

The officials were told to monitor the tiger movement in Adilabad, Kothagudem,

Chhattisgarh and Sironcha areas of the Kawal Tiger Reserve - connected to the Mulugu forest area.

District Collector S Krishna Aditya said that return of tigers is a matter of pride for Mulugu district. He assured the forest department of providing funds in this regard.

Vinod Kumar, Field Director-Project Tiger, Kawal Tiger Reserve Forest, Nirmal, Superintendent of Police Sangram Singh G Patil, Additional Collector (Local Bodies) Adarsh Surabhi, Mulugu ASP Sai Chaitanya, District Forest Officer Pradeep Kumar Shetty, Bhupalpally Forest Officer K Purushotham, Manchiryala District Forest Officer Shivani, Warangal Urban Forest Officer Ramalingam and Peddapalli Forest Officer Ravi Prasad were among others present.